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Cripple 



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Creek 



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Illustrated 



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Cripple Creek 



Illustrated 



S S- S- 3 ^ J^ ^t■ ^t jt 



Issued by the Passenger Department 

Santa Fe Route 

1896 



in 



POOLE BROS. CHICAGO. 

jt J* .* 







e^ e^ ^ e^ 

RIPPLE CREEK is a gold field second to none in the world. Discoveries are made there every 
day that make poor men rich; but if the visitor expects to see the old miner "bearded like a pard," 
feasting his eyes on nuggets of gold, he will look in vain; and if he expects to see the revolver, the 
bowie-knife and the Winchester, as furnishings for men, he will be disappointed. The Cripple Creek 
crowd might have wandered out of Chicago for all its dress and manners tell of it. It is a hustling crowd, and 
all sorts of old friends are in it. The faces in the hurrying throng are clean and quick, the clothes are well 
cut and well set. The stage settings are sometimes rude. The seamy side of many a pine structure is visible to 
the naked eye. But the actors themselves, like the dukes and ladies who stalk across the boards where "Uncle 
Tom" hobbled the night before, are so well kept that the contrast is distinctly apparent. 

The town is equipped with water-works, electric lights and sewers. A street-car line has been surveyed, 
and cottages, with all the comforts that plumbing can bring, are going up every day. The hotels and restau- 
rants spread as tempting tables as those of any place in the Mississippi Valley. Venison, lobsters, pheasants 
and quail, and fresh mushrooms, strawberries and tomatoes are among the delicacies that lie in the windows of 
the markets. The old-time "grub" of the mining camp is not heard of in Cripple Creek. The town is up-to- 
date. There are two daily papers. A telephone system and the two commercial telegraph companies con- 
nect the district with the outer world. Two bookstores sell the latest phantasies in decadent art and literature. 
The dry goods stores have "linen sales" and "silk sales" every week. The bargain counter greets the 
economical family man who thought he was fleeing to "some vast wilderness." 

The caprices and whims of latter-day civilization are seen at every turn in this new yellow-pine town. 
The Ki2?isi!s Citv Star says: " The man who comes to Cripple Creek looking for the picturesque, will have to 
look beneath the surface. The most picturesque sight in Cripple Creek is the sweet thing in corduroys, 
leather leggings, white hat and hunting jacket, and immaculate linen, stumbling down the street, reading the 




CRIPPLE CREEK — VIEW ON BENNETT AVENUE 



uncut magazine, and jostling against the crowd." 
That is the short of it all. There is no frontier. 
The railway has abolished it. Cripple Creek is as 
civilized as towns whereon the moss of centuries has 
gathered. Yet where the town of Cripple Creek now 
lies crumpled in a pocket of the mountains, a cattle 
ranch, five years ago, occupied the land. For twenty 
years the ranch was undisturbed in possession, save 
when the Mount Pisgah boom (a salted boom) broke 
the solitude for two days in 1884. In 1889 an occa- 
sional prospector, with pick and drill, strayed into 
the camp. P"or years Robert Womack had been 
digging holes all over the ranch looking for mineral. 
But no one paid any attention to him. As the other 
prospectors kept coming in so many holes went 
down that cattle fell in, and the cattle upon that creek were shipped to market maimed and crippled. From 
this circumstance, it is said, the name "Cripple Creek" was derived. To keep out prospectors the cattle men 
laid off the place into town lots, which they put on the market at ^50 apiece, as a prohibitory price. The 
prospectors gobbled up the lots and called for more. 




DUMPING AN ORE CAR 



(^ ^5* 



From 1 89 1 the district may be said to have a place in mining history, but not until 1892 was the output 
sufficient to be recorded. Then it amounted to S6oo,ooo. Following is a showing of the output for four years: 



1892 



1893 



1894 



FIRST YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $600,000. 



SECOND YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $2,100,000. 



THIRD YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $3,000,000. 



J 895 



FOURTH YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $8,000,000. 



That diagram is a pictorial history of Cripple 
Creek. Its details would make a book. The history 
of one of the score of hills in the district — an area 
six miles by ten in extent — is the historj' of all the 
hills. It is a story of pluck and luck and providence. 
Here is a typical tale told of the Portland mine — 
one of the most valuable in Colorado — as it was 
written by a staff correspondent of the Clikago Trib- 
une. It is a story to make your blood tingle: 

"Another of the pitiful stories of the camp that 
partakes of the nature of a romance is that of the 
Portland group. It is a tale of a minimum of luck 
mixed with a maximum of pluck and perseverance 
in the face of moneyed odds. Here we have three 




ENTRANCE TO A TUNNEL 



young men, James Burns, James Doyle and John 
Harnan, all poor and living at Colorado Springs. 
Burns was probably the most fortunate of the trio 
because he had learned the plumbers' trade, and he 
had had some experience in working about mines in 
Leadville and other places. By means of grubstakes 
and a little money earned at odd times they had 
spent some time in prospecting. 

"One day they came across rich ore in the Port- 
land, so called because two of them came from that 
Maine city, and they saw fortunes ahead. But they 
had only a fraction of a claim — less than one-sixth 
of an acre — and they realized that they must get 
more ground if they were to be genuine bonanza 
kings. The ore developed unexpected richness and 
they determined to secretly take out enough to buy 
out their neighbors. Above all they must not excite 
the suspicions of the wary prospectors who surrounded them. The story of how they packed the rich stuff 
out of their mine at night on their backs has often been told. They toiled incessantly, but the weary climb up 
the steep hill tired them after a time, and they decided to try the experiment of getting a wagon to haul away 
the mineral that was bringing in such handsome returns, even though they were taking it out in such small 
quantities. On the first trip the wagon broke down within a short distance of the shaft, and in the morning 
the early prospectors were astonished at the sight of it perched high on the side of Butte Mountain, where 
there was no road. Curiosity excited, it was not long before they had satisfied themselves where the ore came 
from. To trace the wheel tracks to the Portland dump was easy. 

"Then ensued a scramble for locations that lapped and overlapped the poor little Portland fraction to a 
discouraging degree. But the trio did not lose heart. They knew that with time they could get enough 
money out of their mine to make the legal fights that came down like an avalanche. So they industriously 
worked away with forty-seven law suits hanging over their heads. Some they fought to a successful finish, 
others they compromised, and it all ended in their getting possession of 130 acres of patented land immediately 



ftf wlaf^II ^ ..4' ^fl^H 





PUMPING STATION— 310 FEET BELOW SURFACE 



surrounding their original location. And the money with which to prosecute these expensive suits, with the 
best (Colorado legal talent employed on both sides, came out of the hole of which it was sought to deprive them. 
"Arrayed against them were such men as D. H. Moffatt, with the influence of millions in his hands, and 
other enormously rich persons. Throughout the long fights in the courts discouraging obstacles not originally 
counted upon were thrown in their way. One of these was the great strike of '93, and it came near making 
dough of their cake. They had agreed to buy one of the Moffatt adverse claims and had §285,000 to pay in a 
few weeks. The strike was declared in opposition to a demand made by certain mine owners that the miners 
work nine hours a day instead of eight. The conflict, with its dynamite and militia episodes, continued for 
months, but through the bull-dog determination of 'Jimmie' Burns the Portland continued to take out ore. 

"The miners were given everything they wanted and more too — in fact, anything to keep the hoisters 
going. When the day of settlement came Mr. Moffatt and his friends were given a check for the quarter of a 
million or more, and every cent of it had been taken out of the ground in dispute. It was one of the most 
remarkable transactions known to mining. 

"After that progress was easy, though before all the troubles of the trio were over J. R. McKinnie and 

Stratton, of the Independence, found their way into 
the company and gave it strength. All the fights, 
however, were not in the courts. Burns and Doyle, 
who kept guard over the property with their own 
eyes, were often obliged to sally out with shotguns 
and rifles and drive away would-be jumpers and con- 
testants who thought 'possession was nine points in 
law,' and tried to gain that coigne of vantage by force. 
"Not fifty feet from the main office of the Port- 
land, on the mountain. Burns one night drove away 
six armed men who had started to sink a shaft. 
There were profane words and many threats, but the 
intruders finally withdrew with the promise of com- 
ing again. The gaping mouth of Burns' weapon 
~ " accelerated their movements down the hill. When 

it was all over Burns discovered his rifle was not 

PROSPECTORS STARTING OUT FROM CRIPPLE CREEK 




MATTS. -'- i 

A uie,ri(i)iiKit^1o.\ 

— *'s,2;j(t.l 



in ,1 11 nil I VI IV ■ 

UULAR MtALS,; 




loaded. He felt much like the tainting woman who 
collapses when the danger is over. His hair has 
silvered in four years. Yet 'Jimmie' Burns is a 
young man. 

'^ ^ J- J, 

The early records of the camp are full of similar 
episodes; that was before the railroad brought in 
civilization. The great strike of 1S94, with it's for- 
tification on Bull Hill, its intrigues, and its threat- 
ened rebellion against the state troops, is an incident 
in national history. They show you now "where 
the battle was fought." They point to the place 
where the deputies marshalled their forces, where .rsx ho... ,. c.p... ck... 

people speak of the year ,894 as "a early dav "vet T u" °'^^^>'^' ^' ^-^^ strange to hear 

events move rapidly hLory .'rites a b:ok Iv'ery I^y 'ti'IIZ -^Ttt^ "^"^ '" Cripple Creek. Where 
say. in the "eighties "-is now almost forgotten ^ ^' ^ ^^' °^ '^"^ prehistoric period- 

Greater events are now upon the boards Thp «.^vM i .. ^ • 

"a million a month" is a slo<.an tha^ wHl not nern > " '''' "P°" ^"^^^' ^'''^ ^^ '^ '^- ^he cry of 

providing work for thousands of mi .e Three' e"h hr"h-ft"'°T '° '^ -T"'' '"^'"^"- ^'^^^ ^^°^-" ^ 
Electric lights in the depths make work as safe as ft t above^ -a^e midmght ,n the mine as busy as noon, 
eight hours. The Union rules everything B^isin s s Irif T". '^'^'^ '°'' "'"^''^ ^^^ ^^ree dollars for 
dollars a day, and carpenters and nJasons fin^TI^J I T ^^^^ ST^;. n::^' .Jrr '" 1^™ ^^J 

10 



living is reasonable. Flour sells at Si.io to $1.25, 
and meat at Missouri River prices. Vegetables are 
plenty. Rent only is high. That may be avoided 
by owning a home, as taxes are reasonably low, and 
outside the business part of town building lots may 
be purchased on excellent terms. 

t^^ t^^ tjy' t^^ 

It is proper to state that a speculative boom is 
under way in Cripple Creek mining stocks. No one 
pretends that this boom will last forever, but the 
success of Cripple Creek does not depend upon the 
market price of its stocks. The existence of a 
phenomenal deposit of gold has been conclusively 
established. The fact that there may be worthless Cripple Creek stocks in eastern markets has no bearing on 
the actual and permanent values of the numerous rich strikes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of outside 
capital are being sent to Colorado to be used in almost indiscriminate mining-stock speculation, and the price 
of nearly every stock on the market has steadily and rapidly risen. Of course a day will come when the 
wheat will be sifted from the chaff, but at present every stock that represents an actual property in the district 
is regarded as possible wheat. 

At the present writing there are 980 mining companies incorporated in the Cripple Creek district. Less 
than fifty of these have been listed on the Colorado Stock Exchange. Some are regarded as so valuable Jay 
the original owners that none of the stock is offered, but the greater number represent properties either of 
unknown or undeveloped value. Only seventy of these stocks, out of nearly one thousand, are "on call" in 
the E.xchange at Cripple Creek. 




FIRST NEWSPAPER OFFICE IN CRIPPLE GREEK. 1892 



11 




STEAM HOIST IN SHAFT HOUSE 



The moral is, not that the unlisted stocks are 
worthless, although some are undoubtedly "wildcat," 
but that the wise investor will personally visit the 
camp before investing his money. 

Of course the producing mines are known. 
Their stocks can generally be purchased, but the 
price is much higher and the speculative range nat- 
urally less than is possible with less developed mines. 

To the reader who is not familiar with modern 
mining methods, a glance at the amount of machin- 
ery used in lifting the gold-bearing rock to the 



surface will be of interest. The best equipped mine 
in the district is the "Independence." Over this 
mine is a large shaft house filled with machinery. 
A dynamo provides illumination under ground. 
The system of signals is electrical. Steam pumps 
bring up water by the thousand gallons. Steel 
cables hoist the cages in the shaft, and the foreman, 
sitting by an electric keyboard, with a lever in his 
hand, directs the work that brings millions of dol- 
lars worth of ore to the world. It is a triumph of 
mechanics. Danger of loss of life is minimized, 



A PROSPECT — SOON TO BE A MINE 



12 



, labor is saved and the miracle of producing wealth 
goes on day and night. 

Shaft houses similar to that of the " Indepen- 
dence" arc dotted all over the group of hills that 
comprise the district. Every week a new shaft 
house goes up. 

^ J* jt ^* 

There arc now over two hundred mines that are 
lifting ore in paying quantities. Most of these are 
owned by private parties or by close corporations. 
Here is a list of the Cripple Creek mines that have 





HOME, SWEET HOME" IN GOLU FItLDb 



shipped ore in paying quantities or have it in sight. 
This list is agreed upon by the Cripple Creek Times, 
the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Denver News and 
the Republican, and most of the mining journals in 
this coiuitr)' and England: 

LIST OF PRODUCERS. 



Alie Lincoln 
Alice 
Alsa R. 

American Eagle i 
American Eagle 2 
American Eagle 3 



Anaconda 
Anchor 
Anchor No. i 
Anna Lee 
rSadger Boy 
Beacon 



Ben Harrison 
Bertha B. 
Big Banta 
Bison I 
Black Belle 
Black Diamond 



A TrplCAL MINER'S BOARDING HOUSE 



13 



o 



\ <S>" ""''^ 




^ 



'-S/^.^m^^^' 



VIEWS IN WEST CREEK DISTRICT 



LIST OF PRODUCERS— Continued. 



Blue Bell 

Blue Bird 

Blue Jay 

Blue Stocking 

Bobtail 

Bodie 

Bogart 

Bonanza Chief 

Brooklyn 

Buena Vista 

Burns 

Caledonia 

Captain 

Chance 

Chesapeake 

Chief 

Christmas 

City View 

Climax 

Climax No. i 

Climax No. 2 

C.-O. D. 

Colorado Boss No. 3 

Colorado City 

Colorado City No. i 

Colorado King 

Comet 

Comstock 

Dante 

Dead Pine 

Deerhorn 



Delmonico 

Devil's Own 

Doctor 

Dolly Varden 

Doubtful 

Eclipse 

Eclipse No. i 

Elkton 

Elkton No. 2 

El Paso 

El Reno 

Excelsior 

Favorite 

Galena 

Garfield-Grouse 

Geneva 

Gladstone 

Globe 

Gloriana 

Gold Coin 

Gold Dollar 

Gold King 

Grace Greenwood 

Grand View 

Granite 

Gregory 

Grouse 

Half Moon 

Hidden Treasure 

Hidden Treasure 2 

Hillside 



Home Run 

Homestake 

Hoosier 

IdaB. 

Ida Belle No. i 

Ida Belle No. 2 

Independence 

Independence 2 

Ingham 

Ironclad 

Jack G. 

Jennie Sample 

Joe Dandy 

John A. Logan 

Jolly Tar 

Katharine 

Keystone 

King of Diamonds 

Kismet 

Kittie M. 

La Belle 

Lady Locelia 

Lady Stith 

Lafayette 

Last Dollar 

Lee 

Lillian Leland 

Lincoln 

Little May 

Londonderry 

Lone Star No. 2 



Longfellow No. i 
Longfellow No. 2 
Los Angeles 
Lottie 

Lucky Belle 
Lucky Gus 
Mabel M. 
Maid of Erin 
Mary McKinney 
Mattie D. 
Mattie L. 
May Queen 
Midget 
Mineral Rock 
Minnehaha 
Minnie S. 
M. K. & T. 
Mollie Kathleen 
Monument 
Moose 

Morning Glory i 
Morning Glory 2 
Morning Glory 4 
Morning Star 
Morning Stars 
Mountain Monarch 
Necessity 
Nellie 
Nellie V. 
New Moon 
New Zealand 



Nightingale 

North Star 

Ocean Wave 

Ocean Wave No. i 

Omega 

Orpha May No. i 

Orpha May No. 2 

Orphan No.j 

Orphan No. 2 

Pharmacist 

Phcenix 

Pike's Peak 

Pinto 

Plymouth Rock No. 

Poorman 

Portland 

Prince Albert 

Princess E. 

Puffer 

Queen of the Hills 

Ramona 

Raven 

Red Umbrella 

Republic 

Rhinocerous 

Rigi 

Rose Maud 

Ruble 

Sacramento 

Santa Rita 

Scranton 



Sheriff 

Smuggler 

Snide 

Snowy Range 

Specimen 

Spicer 

Squaw Mt. Tunnel 

St. L. & C. C. T. 

Strong 

Superior 

Theresa 

Tom Bigbee 

Tornado 

Trail 

Twin Sisters 

Vanadium 

Victor 

Vindicator 

Viola 

Volcano 

Walter 

Washington 

Whi[)-poor-will 

White House 

Wichita 

Wide Awake 

Wilson 

World's Fair 

Yellow Jacket 

Zenobia 



15 




A CRIPPLE CREEK STAGE— THE OLD WAY 

It has already been stated that most of the produc- 
ing mines are in the hands of private owners. There is 
good reason for this. Good mining stock is valuable. It 
is taken up rapidly in Colorado. A mining company on 
an established paying basis soon becomes practically a 
close corporation. It is the best investment in the world. 

«^* t5* (^* e^ 

Here is a list of the stocks called on the Cripple Creek 
board. The capitalization is given with the price per share. 
The last column gives the value of the mining property 
as estimated by the stockholders in their daily dealings: 



Name 

Alamo 

Anaconda 

Anchoria-Leland . 

Aola 

Atlanta 

Bankers' 

Ben Hur 

Blue Bell 

Bob Lee 

Boston, Colo 

Brother Jonathan , 

Buckhorn 

C. C. & M 

C. K. & N 

Columbine 

Columbine Victor . 
Copper Mountain . 
Creede & C. C . . . 
Cripple Creek Con 

Croesus 

Currency 

Elkton 

Enterprise 

Favorite 

Franklin 

Garfield-Grouse- . . 

Golden Age 

Golden Dale ...... 

Golden Eagle 

Gold Globe 

Gold King 

Gold Rock 

Gold Standard . . . . 
Goldstone 



Capital 


Price 




Shares 


OF Stock 


Value 


Si, 250,000 


SO. 091^ 


$ 118,750 


1,000,000 


.69 


690,000 


fi00,000 


3.05 


1,800,0(X) 


1,(3(X),000 


.04% 


48,750 


1,(K30,000 


.01 


10,000 


1,250,000 


•23M 


293,750 


!IOO,000 


■lOM 


92,250 


500,000 


•131^ 


67,500 


1.200,000 


.03% 


45,000 


300,000 


.02 


2i),0( )0 


1,000,000 


.03J-4 


35,500 


1)00,000 


■OIK 


(i5,25() 


2,000,000 


.01% 


155,000 


1,250,000 


.02 


25,000 


i,ooo,oai 


■OoSg- 


56,250 


2,000,000 


.0714 


145,000 


1,000.000 


.03 


30,( 100 


s(X),ixio 


• 07J4 


58,()()0 


2,000,000 


.24^s 


437,500 


1,000,000 


.03 


.30,000 


1,250,000 


.10 


125.1100 


500,000 


.65 


325,000 


800,TO0 


.241^ 


194,0)10 


1,200,000 


■ 1314 


l);-.i.000 


1,000,0)0 


.0214 


22.5( i( ) 


1,200,000 


.061:^ 


78,0)10 


1,000,000 


.041^ 


45,1 )) 1) ) 


2,000,000 


■OlH 


10.) Mill 


1,000,000 


•03>^ 


35,11011 


750,000 


.251^ 


191.2.'i)l 


100,000 


.70 


700.))) 10 


100,000 


.011^ 


15,0)))) 


1,000.000 


.131^ 


135,000 


1.250,000 


.021^ 


31,250 



16 



Name 

Gould 

Granite Hill 

Grotto 

Hallett & Hambur 

Ironclad 

Isabella 

Jack Pot 

Jefferson 

Keystone 

Lodessa 

Lottie Gibson .... 
Magna Charta ... 

Matoa 

Mohawk Bell .... 

Mount Rosa 

Nugget 

Ophir 

Pappoose 

Pharmacist 

Portland 

Ramona 

Raven Tunnel ... 

Reno 

Sacramento 

Silver State 

Squaw Mountain . 
St. Louis, C. C. T. . 

.Summit 

Temonj 

T. F. T 

Union 

Virginia M 

Work 

World 



Capital 


Price 




Shares 


OF Stock 


Value 


$1,000,000 


$0.19 


$ 190,000 


720,000 


.02 


14,400 


1,500,000 


.03I4 


52,500 


200,000 


.34 


68,000 


1,000,000 


.09 


90,000 


2,250,000 


.44 


900,000 


1,250,000 


■m-i 


156,25(_) 


1,100,000 


.16 


176,000 


1,500,000 


.10 


l.jO,000 


1,000,000 


.O2I4 


22,500 


1,000,(JOO 


.03>8 


31,250 


1,000,000 


•0318 


31,250 


i.aji 1,000 


.24 


240,000 


1,000,0(10 


.04 


40,000 


i,()oo,(joo 


.20 


2OO,0(J0 


1,000,(JO() 


.15 


150,000 


750,(100 


.lOi^- 


71,750 


2,O(0O,O()O 


.O8I4 


165,000 


1,200,(»0 


.16 


192,000 


3,00t),000 


I.96I4 


5,8«7,500 


1,000,000 


.06 


60,000 


i,50o,oa) 


.051.,' 


82,500 


1,000,000 


.10 


100,000 


1,000,(X)0 


•0918 


91,2.50 


700 000 


.03 


21,(J00 


2,000,000 


.11 


220,0(» 


1,000,000 


■ Oi^i 


45,000 


1,000,000 


•24M 


245,(JOO 


1,000,000 


.16 


160,000 


500,000 


.O3I4 


15,625 


1,250,000 


.3518 


439,062 


i,0(:k),ooo 


.03 


30,000 


1,250,000 


.I9I4 


239.061 


1,5a 1,000 


.02 


30,000 



The careful editor of the Cliicago Tribune calls 
attention to the fact that: 

" Here are sixty-eight companies, most of them 
listed, with a total capitalization of §82,220,000, the 
stock of which is selling for $17,039,650. This is more 
than one-fifth of the capitalized value. There is a vast 
difference between this and Johannesburg, where non- 
dividend paying mines are selling at four times their 
capitalized value. Many of the mines quoted above, 
upon careful examination, could not sell for the figure 
their stocks bring, but there are others which are 
worth much more." 




MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. — CRIPPLE CREEK — THE NEW WAV 



17 




CITY OF VICTOR — FROM BATTLE MOUNTAIN 



Every day the territory is enlarging. Hills that were considered worthless are found each month to be 
veritable quarries of gold. Prospect holes are transformed into ore-shipping mines. Is it a wonder that those 
who have seen this miracle are enthusiastic? 

Here is the way the Rocky Mountain News — one of Denver's conservative daily papers — looks at the 
product of these 203 mines and the possibilities of the "camp" for this year: 

"The Cripple Creek district is the richest and most promising gold field in the world. During the past 
year the district has attracted the attention of two continents. Gold has been unearthed in such quantities, 
and the veins have been of such surpassing richness, as to astonish prospector and investor. In the much- 
vaunted gold fields of South Africa, ore is treated that yields not to exceed gi2 a ton. In the Cripple Creek 
region, Colorado, the average value of ore per ton is from S75 to Sioo, and some of it runs as high as ^20,000 
per ton, reaching in isolated cases to ^40,000. What is considered excellent product in the Kaffir mines is 
thrown upon the waste pile as not worthy of the expense of extraction in the fields that lie upon the slopes of 
Battle Mountain. Results speak for themselves. Thousands of people from all over the civilized world have, 
during the past few months, walked these hills, and what they have seen and heard will form the pages of 
history. Eighteen ninety-five, with its surprising finds, will, when the eventful history of Cripple Creek is 
closed, be conceded as the red-letter year, from which the renewed prosperity of Colorado received its greatest 
impetus. It is probable, it is certainly possible, that this New Year, at its death, will show a record of over 
815,000,000 in gold taken from the earth in Cripple Creek. But the old year that has passed from the stage 
will be reverenced as the period in which the greatness of the future was made known, which attracted to 
these mines the men of the civilized world, and which invited, by the worth of the product, capital from sister 
states and from abroad. In the day when the output of Colorado's yellow metal shall equal that of all the 
rest of the world, the past year will be remembered as the father of all the grand result." 

t^^ t5^ tj5* e^* 

That is from the West. The reader may think it too roseate. Take with it this from the London Miiiuig 
Journal, under the caption of "Gold in Colorado." That paper says editorially: 

"At the present moment Colorado is occupying the attention which should have been bestowed upon it 
years ago. At that time opportunities presented themselves to the English capitalist which he might have 

19 



seized with considerable advantage; but, unfortunately, 
these he resolutely ignored, to the corresponding great 
benefit of others more acute and farseeing. Colorado, 
as we have stated several times of late, is a marvelously 
rich country, a fact which no well-informed individual, 
no matter what his prejudices or predilections may be, 
is audacious enough to 
dispute. This knowl- 
edge, however, has until 
recently been principally 
confined to the 'states,' 
and of it the astute 
Yankee has taken full 
advantage. But it is im- 
possible that he should 
monopolize this informa- 
tion ad infinitum. Re- 
ports of its wonderful 
richness have been com- 
ing over to this country, 
and the Mining Journal 
has done not a little 
toward disseminating 
them. Feeling assured 
that it was a country 
destined to attract in the near future the English cap- 
italist, we at once established a reliable correspondent 
in the district, and the publication of his articles has 
already astonished, if not astounded, those in our 
country who would have us believe they knew a thing 




EL PASO REDUCTION WORKS — GILLETT 



or two. Seemingly, however, they were unaware of the 
remarkable progress made by the gold mining industry 
of Colorado. But now their eyes have been opened, 
and it is their intention to take full advantage of the 
knowledge which they have been so late in acquiring. 
"Up to the present the mines of Colorado have 

been worked by Ameri- 
can capital. There are 
indications, however,that 
such capital shall no 
longer have the monop- 
oly. There are any num- 
ber of other properties, 
rich and promising, 
which may be acquired 
by English capitalists, 
and that they intend to 
hasten to acquire them 
we have little doubt. If 
not, they will lose another 
opportunity, which else 
will be quickly seized by 
their 'cousins,' who will 
reap the reward awaiting 
such enterprise. This 
wonderful progress has been due to two chief causes 
— in fact, the two causes which have been instru- 
mental in pushing forward the gold-mining industry 
all over the world. These are the depreciation of 
silver and the improvements in the facilities for 



20 



mining. The first led to a more general and fever- 
ish search for the metal; the second has enabled it 
to be extracted profitably, where years ago the cost 
was too great. Colorado, especially, has profited 
by this, and to-day gold-mining there is the rage. 
Cripple Creek, perhaps, displays the greatest activ- 
ity — in fact, this is the richest district, and it is from 
here that the principal increase is likely to come in 
the near future. It is believed that this year the 
output will value gi 5,000,000. The shipments from 
this district last year have removed all doubt as to 
its future. Leadville probably comes next, and this 
will also show a considerable increase. Some of the 
mines in this region are very productive, and, as we 
showed last week, besides gold, silver, copper, lead 
and iron are also to be found." 

These words are not fanciful. Since they were 
written the new district of "West Creek" has opened up. A town is building there and prospect holes are 
being sunk all over the hills. Its promoters have the same indications for ore that are found near Cripple 
Creek and their faith is hot without works. Gold is being found all over the "silver state," and new mines are 
going down and bringing results where a few years ago even the enthusiast did not deign to walk. 

e^** (^* *^^ (^* 

It IS marvelous that in a state over which for a quarter of a century the prospector has tramped, new and 
fabulously rich gold fields should disclose themselves to the eyes of the merest novices in the business of 
mining. For Cripple Creek, and all of Colorado's gold fields are monstrosities in the mind of the scientist. 




TIMBERING A TUNNEL 



21 




SCENE IN TOWN OF ANACONDA 



"Gold," says the Cripple Creek miner, dryly, "is where you find it." 
Then, commenting on the fact that most of the theories about locating 
gold which miners have accepted for centuries are inoperative in Cripple 
Creek, perhaps the best plain statement of the case has been made by a 
miner in a Chicago morning paper. He says: 

"Geologically Cripple Creek is a freak. It is erratic, eccentric, and 
full of whims and caprices. That is, it is so to the man of science and 
the miner of experience. It is a vast crater bed in which the elements 
once were wont to make merry with nature and play unexpected pranks 
that must have caused the systematic old dame many a vexatious hour. 
But after careful research it is found that every caprice had its just cause, 
every prank its true method, and every eccentricity its undeviating sys- 
tem. The blemishes and freaks were only skin deep. At the bottom 
everything was right, as it should be. 

"Still the blemishes existed and that is why farmers found gold where 
miners could see none; that is why claim owners begin their mining opera- 
tions with a plow and sigh discontentedly because the refractory nature 
of the ore does not permit them to treat it with a thrashing machine. 

"It is the unique formation at the surface — an overflow that forms 
veins radiating like the ribs of an open fan — that causes the miner to dig 
long trenches instead of boring a hole. He knows that if he extends his 
trench far enough he will find the vein he seeks, and by following this he 
will come to the fissure that is supposed to bring him wealth. 

"There are no outcroppings, for the fan-like veins run laterally and 
for centuries have been buried under a loose 'wash.' The surface of the 
Cripple Creek hills, therefore, since prospecting began, presents a vast network of ope 

" Men who mine know that the greatest and most enduring ore deposits are found 
oldest geological age have been disturbed by eruptions in a later stage of the formation 




SMUGGLER MINE 



n ditches, 
where rocks 
of the earth' 



of the 
s crust. 



23 



The prospector seeks for a country which has been subjected to a convulsion, or one where the old and new 
rocks have been thrown together. For reasons the scientists and experts can talk learnedly about in 
language they pretend to understand, deposits of mineral-bearing rock are almost invariably found at the 
contact, and that is the point the miner seeks. 

"Experience has established as a rule that where the old granite has been cut by the new porphyry, ore 
can be expected. 

"What made Cripple Creek the great mining field it is, was some unusual disturbance in the bowels of the 
earth that sent bursting through the plane of granite a great eruption of molten rocks that in cooling took 
the form of porphyry and phonolite. This molten mass settled down in the cracks made in the granite and 
was itself cracked in the cooling operation. In the filtering process these cracks became filled with deposits 
of quartz-bearing gold, and at the same time the granite plane was shaped into hills and valleys. 

" How the gold came there is for the scientist to say. The layman has his choice of two theories. One, 
that the water on the surface filled the seams with the silica or gold-impregnated sands that afterwards 
became solidified into quartz. The other is that the 
veins remained as blow-holes for the gases of the 
inner earth and were finally closed by the precipita- 
tion of these gases upon the walls of the vent. 

"Exactly how the gold got into them the pros- 
pector, finding porphyry and granite in contact, did 
not stop to argue, but set about to hunt the veins. 
He found them running here, there, and everywhere, 
cutting in all directions, and even violating his old 
theory that to have real value the vein should strike 
toward the poles of the earth. Radiating from all 
directions about, through, across and around the core 
of that upheaval of prehistoric days are found veins 
more or less filled with deposits of gold-bearing rock, 
and the e.xperience has been that the deeper down 
into the earth the shafts penetrate the richer is the ore, 
and the wider, more solid and enduring the deposits. 

24 




SCHOOLHOUSE IN ANACONDA 



"Had man come upon the scene immediately following the disturbance he would have found this 
network of rich veins cutting in all directions over an area of ground about 346 miles in extent and would 
have found no difficulty in putting up countless numbers of stakes on veins easily distinguished at the surface. 
He would have found Cripple Creek an uninviting place in which to live at that time. Where now are 
rolling, grassy hills topped with pines, and valleys coursed by timid streams, would have been only bare, 
rough, harsh heaps of lava. Nature has been busy in the ages that have elapsed in spreading a mantle of 
beauty over the barren mounds and ugly gashes that resulted from the eruption. 

"The effects of air and water have rounded off the protruding rocks, scored off and softened them, 
covering the country several feet deep with loose earth and finely-ground rocks, which nourish the vegetable 
growth, but at the same time cover over and hide from the prospector the vein he seeks. 

"To find the vein he must dig down through the eroded covering of the rocks. In this covering called 
'wash' he finds bits of the quartz filling which has suffered the same process as the country rock, and thc^t 
encourages him to dig the harder. He knows this detached quartz did not come from below and that he 

must dig up-hill to find the vein it came from. He 
follows up these bits of 'float' in the 'wash' until 
often he must dig a trench from two to twelve feet 
deep to get below the effect of the erosion and into 
solid formation, and any length until he finds his 
vein in the unaffected country rock. 

"The effect of the elements on the \'ein he gen- 
erally finds has extended even deeper. Water 
makes of the softer vein a channel, and percolating 
through the quartz filling generally carries out or 
'leaches' the quartz for a considerable distance 
down into the earth. So that after finding his vein 
the prospector has only begun his work. 

"He must next have an ore chute or find that 
part in his vein where the gold is in the quartz. 
There may be a vein without an ore chute or the 
chute may fill the entire crevice from wall to wall 




STATION AND TOWN OF INDEPENDENCE 



25 



and b 



and from end to end, as a sandbar in a river from 
bank to bank and for miles along its course. 

"A peculiarity in the structure of ore chutes in 
the Cripple Creek district has been noted in some of 
the veins. 

"In most camps these chutes run from the sur- 
face down perpendicularly toward the center of the 
earth, but here the\^ appear to lie horizontally, so 
that the shaft sinking down encounters one after the 
other, and finds them increasing in size and richness. 

"The geological difference between Cripple 
Creek and Leadville, where a similar intrusion of 
porphyry occurs, is this: In Leadville the intruding 
porph}Ty from below found a hard capping of rock 
to resist it, and instead of breaking to the surface it 
elevated the cap and flowed under it, spreading out 
as a blanket below. 

ere in Cripple Creek the eruption was greater and more forcible, spread over a wider area of country, 
ke and seamed into more veins." 

ti?* f^" t^* t^* 




GOLD HILL— ABOVE MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. DEPOT 



In a monograph prepared after a geographical survey of the country for the United States government, 
Mr. R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., of the University of Chicago, has written the following: 

"The ores of the Cripple Creek district are almost exclusively gold ores. A little sil\er occurs in most 
of them, but usually it is insignificant. No other metals occur in quantities of commercial value. The ore 
consists usually of country rock more or less impregnated and replaced by quartz and other minerals, among 
which the most abundant are fiuorite, opaline, silica, kaolin, iron pyrites, and other iron minerals, manganese 
oxides, and more rarely small quantities of galena, cerrusite, malachite, acanthite, tetrahedite, stibnite, 
spalerite, calaverite, native gold, oxidized tellurium minerals, gypsum, calcite, and numerous other minerals 
in still smaller quantities. 



26 



"The ores often consist simply of country rock, 
either eruptive materials or granite, containing sec- 
ondary quartz and associated minerals, instead of, 
as in many gold districts, and, in fact, as in parts of 
the Cripple Creek district, consisting of well defined 
bodies of these materials. A characteristic ore of 
the district is an intimately mixed mass of quartz 
and fiuorite, prominent on account of its brilliant 
purple color. 

"The gold occurs in the ore as native or free 
gold, and telluride of gold. The usually superficial 
mode of occurrence and the physical condition of 
the native gold indicate that it has been largely 
derived from the telluride by oxidation. Most of 
the gold at a depth is in the form of a telluride which 
has been determined to be calaverite. 

"Superficial alteration has caused the o.xidation, 
hydration and leaching of certain minerals in the ore deposits, as well as the formation of sulphates, phos- 
phates, hydrous silicates, tellurites or tellurates, and other oxidized compounds. The value of the ores at 
present shipped from the mines varies from S20 to S400 per ton. The district is at present essentially a 
shipper of only high-grade ores. 

"The gold of the Cripple Creek district occurs both in vein deposits and in placer deposits derived from 
the decay and erosion of the veins and country rock. The placers are not considered in the output. 

"The existence of numerous dikes in the region indicates the presence of pree.xisting fissures. In some 
places the veins occupy these early fissures, but in a general way the vein fissures do not seem to have been 
the earliest ones formed, though many of them were produced before the dike action ceased. In most cases 
which have been examined, however, the fissures occupied by the veins were formed after the intrusion of the 
dikes, as is shown by the fact that they intersect the latter. 

"The Assuring action affected both the volcanic area and the surrounding granite, so that the whole 
region is much broken by numerous fissures intersecting each other at various angles. In any single locality 










HOISTING PLANT OF ANCHOR MINE — CRIPPLE CREEK IN BACKGROUND 



27 




ALTMAN — HIGHEST INCORPORATED TOWN IN THE WORLD — ALTITUDE 10,200 FEET 




one general course is usually prominent, though 
intersecting fissures of less prominence are always 
present, and in some places there are two or more 
systems of parallel Assuring. The general course of 
the fissures carrying the veins of the district, like 
that of the dikes, varies from northeast to north- 
west; often it is nearly due north and south. Some 
of the fissures occasionally strike more nearly east 
and west, but in most of the important veins the 
more northerly trend is distinctly characteristic. 

" The fissures are usually represented by one 
main fracture with numerous subordinate parallel or 
approximately parallel fractures, though sometimes 
two or more main fractures occur close together, 
and frequently there is no one specially well-defined 
break, but a number of closely parallel fissures of 
about equal magnitude, giving the rock a minutely banded or sheeted structure and forming a fissured zone. 

"The fissures are usually the result of movement probably accompanied by a certain amount of faulting, 
as is proved by the occasional occurrence of fragments of rock in the better defined fissures and the abundance 
of grooves or slickensides on their faces. The evidence so far obtained indicates that the faults in the vein fis- 
sures have throws varying from a fraction of an inch to several feet. Outside of the immediate Cripple Creek 
district, however, faults of much greater magnitude occur, sometimes with a displacement of over i,ooo feet. 

"What has been said of the general mode of occurrence of the fissure holds true of the veins, which are 
simply bodies of secondary minerals filling the fissures. Sometimes the veins are single, well-defined bodies 
of ore and sometimes they are thin parallel seams filling the fissured zones. They occur in all the rocks of 
the district — breccia, massive eruptives and granite. The general character and mode of occurrence of the 
ore make it evident that the veins are, largely at least, a replacement of the country rock along ver\' narrow 
fissures, which were hardly more than cracks, though occasionally the ore appears locally to have filled small 
open places along them. Every gradation can be seen, from country rock slightly impregnated with ore 
along a fissure to country rock completely replaced and converted to a well-defined vein. 



HORSE WHIM HOIST 



29 



"It is notable that the veins often follow dikes, either throughout their course or, more commonly, for 
short distances, and that when a vein meets a dike, though it may cross it directly, it is likely to be deflected 
and to follow the dike for a greater or less distance. 

"It is often noticeable that near the surface both veins and dikes dip at angles different from those seen at 
a depth; while sometimes veins that occur in one well-defined fissure at a depth fork near the surface. The 
fissures occupied by the dikes orveins were confined to the original line of breakage at a depth, on account of 
the superincumbent pressure, while nearer the surface this pressure was relieved, numerous traverse breaks of 
a more or less superficial character were encountered, and the fissures were more easily deflected or divided. 

"Sometimes cracks or sheeted zones occur in dikes at their contacts with the country rock, and follow all 
the curves in the meanderings of the dikes in a way that would not be likely to characterize independent and 
subsequent fissures. The sheeted structure here is probably caused by shrinkage of the dikes along the 
contact with the country rock during cooling. The shrinkage cracks are probably not so deep-seated nor so 
far-reaching as the fissures caused by the later dynamic disturbances, and, therefore, when unaffected by such 
fissures, they probably have rarely, if ever, become 
the repository of important ore bodies. 

"The concentration of gold in fissures requires 
not only a source of gold but also the re-agents (gen- 
erally hot solvent solutions under pressure) necessary 
to dissolve the disseminated metal, to carry it into 
the fissures, and there, by one or more of the many 
methods, to deposit it. It is a noticeable fact 
throughout the Cripple Creek district that the rich- 
est veins occur in eruptive rocks or in granite in the 
vicinity of the vent or vents from which the eruptives 
were ejected. In such positions, as the result of 
subsiding eruptive activity, the rocks were subject to 
the action of hot waters impregnated with various 
solutions; and these waters seem to have been the 
re-agents that dissolved the gold and caused its con- 
centration in fissures. Hence the veins are rich in 




GREAT DUMP OF VICTOR MiNE 



30 



and near the areas of the vents and 
become poorer as distance increases; 
and hence also the eruptive rocks 
probabi}' suppHed most of the gold, 
while the immediately adjacent gran- 
ite may have supplied a certain part. " 

t?* vy* t^ t^ 

Mr. Harry Lee, State Mine Com- 
missioner for Colorado, has written 
the following: 

"In the number of producers pro- 
portioned to the amount of develop- 
ment done, Cripple Creek district 
excels any camp before discovered in 
the state and possibly in the world. 
It does not follow that all prospects 
will develop into paying mines. In 
area the district already exceeds the 
expectations of the most sanguine. 
It will doubtless extend still farther, 
[■J /'''*^"~~^>-^ ^^^l^A but it is well to bear in mind that there 

H^»^35?''^:s.A5;^-=^»>v^i^'^^^3^i:^:J' is a limit to the boundary. The ten- 
oozY CHIPPLE CREEK COTTAGES dcncy of the prcseut time is posses- 

sion of any mining stock bearing the 
name of Cripple Creek or that vicinity. Many good stocks exist, and may be had at fair prices. The best 
interests of legitimate mining and the ultimate welfare of the district demands, that the placing of stock upon 
the open market, the value of which is entirely prospective, should be deprecated. The enterprise of this 





bTMPE I.IF ,^r.i. Hi i|;i^-Lt L^NU l.llt 
FROM 3u() FEET LEVEL 



31 




STRATTON'S INDEPENDENCE MINE — PORTLAND GROUP TO RIGHT 



camp, the state press, and the various mining exchanges have kept the public well advised as to the actual 
conditions and values. So thoroughly and conscientiously has this been done that no legitimate investor 
need be deceived. To those who enter the mining arena and invest their money as a 'flyer, or a gamble,' little 
can be said. Having determined in their own minds to gamble, warnings are of no avail. If successful, 
which may be among the possibilities, it will demonstrate the superior wisdom of the buyer or gambler. If 
unsuccessful, it will prove to liis mind, at least, that mining is an unsafe business. 

"In addition to the high percentage of producers in the Cripple Creek district, for the amount of 
exploiting done, the gold produced is exceptionally high grade, some being worth as much as S20.25 per 
ounce— which is unusually fine. The district produces a large amount of high-grade ore in the form of 
tellurides. This character of ore is much sought after and a small quantity yields large cash returns. 
Eventually the greatest commercial value of the district will be found in what is now termed the low-grade 
ores. A number of reduction plants have already been constructed and are being successfully operated. 
Plans for construction now known to be under consideration will by next summer care for a tonnage of from 
750 to 1,000 tons per day. Even this will prove inadequate to the demand, for with present development 
there is no doubt of the ability of the large mines alone to produce this amount of ore. With ample milling 
facilities it will be found that ore having a value as low as S8 to Sio per ton will be mined and treated at a 
profit. The great importance of this to the district, and the great value to the owner, to be able to develop 
property with this grade of ore, cannot be overestimated. Finally the frequency of ore occurrence, the 
strength of ore bodies, demonstrated by actual development in various places, fully establishes the 
permanency of the mines in this district." 

(^™ (^^ t^"* e^^ 

The thirty-five thousand people in the Cripple Creek district on January i, 1896, were distributed in a number 
of small towns. Cripple Creek town is the metropolis of the district. Victor, with 5,000 people, is the next 
largest. The remaining towns and villages are scattered around groups of mines or reduction works, and each 
is connected with the other by a chain of shafts and prospect holes, so that the entire place is a scene of life. 
There is no spot in the district out of earshot of the blasts that thunder all day and all night on every hillside. 
Some of these little towns are notable. The famous bull fight was at Gillett, one of the towns four miles 

33 



from Clippie Creek. Altman is the highest incorporated town in the United States, even higher than Lead- 
ville. The other towns, Mound City, Independence, Goldfield, Grassy, Anaconda, Lawrence and Elkton, have 
each a population of from 300 to 500 people, always supporting a school-house, a general store and a church. 
These are miners' towns exclusively. Civilization has not marked them for its own, as it has the larger places. 
Yet the little towns are filling up, perhaps, more rapidly in proportion to their size than is Cripple Creek. 
For the men who are looking for work, and prospectors looking for gold, and investors looking at mines, and 
capitalists looking over their developments, find that they must get out into the country where the actual work 
of the district is going on. The hills cover the wealth, and it is to them that the man in the Cripple Creek 
country must go. As to the hills, it was Dr. Johnson who said: "We have seen this field — one field is like 
all other fields, let us go walk in hleet Street." That ma}- be said about the hills. One hill is like all the 
others — to outward view. Yet when you come to buy a mine, the hill on which it is located determines the 
price it brings. Every week a new hill is coming 
into market. On Battle Hill are the marvelous 
"Independence" and the priceless "Portland" prop- 
erties, the "Strong," the "Scranton," the "Anna Lee" 
and their neighbors. " Bull Mountain," " Grouse Hill," 
"Tenderfoot Hill," "Gold Hill," "Carbonate 'Hill," 
" Mineral Hill" and half a dozen others, are conjuring 
words among miners and investors to-daj'. Before 
the grass is green upon the hills beyond these magic 
mountains, other hills will have names to command 
res[ject. 

«.?* f^y t^ (.5* 

The bounds have not been determined. To- 
day's ruck pile is to-morrow's treasure house. It is 




END OF WATbUN TUNNEL 



34 



all strange and unnatural in the commonplace order of things. This may seem like a fairy tale. Here is the 
way it appeared upon the record of the Colorado stock exchanges. Note how stock after stock has risen: 



Name of' Stock 



Anaconda 

Anchoria-Leland . 

Argentuni-J 

I?en Hur 

Blue Bell 

Bob Lee 

Buckhorn 

C. C. Consol 

Colo. C. & M 

Copper Mountain 

Creede &. C. C 

Enterprise 

Golden Age 

Golden Eagle 

Gold King 

Goldstone 

Gold & Globe ... 

Gould 

Granite Hill 

Jack Pot. 



Quotation 
May 15, 1895 



Bid Asked 



mi 

32 

97 

002 
0055 

0075 



007 
0105 

003 
7?« 
3^' 
00375 
2 



39 
34 

99 

008 
006 

m 

01 



1*1 

5?8 

008 

Oil 

13 

0035 

1% 
4 
004 

2M 



Quotation 
Dec. 15, 1895 



Bid Asked 



3 00 
42 

9M 
11 

2-8 
7 

19M 

24 

3 

60 

2oM 
13M 



69 
3 15 

44 

12 

Sig 

19H 

28 
4% 
3M 

64 

2 

26M 
22 

^H 

14 



Total 
Number 

of 
Shares 



155,121 
36,850 

109,801 
■ 767,740 

319,780 
1,052,850 
1,176,591 
1,906,325 
2,087,040 
1,371,909 

988,150 

263,525 
3,039,400 

627,833 

28,325 

2,056,988 

533,910 

812,971 
1,437,300 
1,235,158 



Name of Stock 



Keystone 

Magna Charta. 
Mollie Gibson. 
Mount Rosa. . . 

Mutual 

Nugget 

Ophir 

Orphan Belle. . 
Pharmacist . . . . 

Portland 

Sacramento . • . 

Santa Fe 

Silver State. • . . 
Star of West.. 

Summit 

Union 

Union Leas'g. . 
Virginia M. . . . 

Work 

World 



Quotation 


Quotation 


May 1 


5, 1895 


Dec 15, 1895 


Bid 


Asked 


Bid 


Asked 


1% 


2 


8 


9 


0075 


008 


3 


3« 


98 


100 


40 


42 


4i8 


4M 


17 


19 


3H 


3;'8 


7 


8 


Wi 


10^2 


15k 


15J^ 


2?8 


3 


9J'B 


10 






. 13 


141^ 


4 


m 


14 


14'.< 


68 


69 


18212 


187 


3 


W2 


81., 


9 


005 


007 


1 


ll8 


005 


0055 


2^4 


2^8 


0055 


006 


lU' 


2'« 


6 


fi>4 


25>4 


25>'3 


13?4 


13^8 


32?4 


33 


62 


65 


31 


35 


1 


IM 


3,^8 


31-3 


IM 


2 


18i„ 


19 . 


2J4 


3 











Total 
Nu.\iber 

OF 

Shakes 

603,000 
792,500 
51,875 
328,6fK) 
484,788 
313,151 
294,400 
294,180 

1,878,900 
285,743 

1,800,370 
545,550 

1,093,493 

1,435,700 
394,729 
799,530 
33,140 
935,433 
314,425 
149,3.'?3 



The story of the hills could not be more graphically told than it is told in the records just quoted. Is it 

ging and the miners and laboring men 



a wonder that the gambling rooms in the saloons of the district go beg; 



38 




TOWN OF PEMBERTON — WEST CREEK DISTRICT 

buy mining stock instead of red and blue and white 
chips on the green cloth? Is it a wonder that even 
the newsboys speculate? Is it a wonder that the 
Colorado exchanges are crowded day and night, and 
that the constant buying has forced stocks up, up, up, 
until there seems no limit tn the fascinating game? 

(.?*' t^ (.?*' «,?• 

Cripple Creek is the poor man's camp. None 
of the big strikes of mineral have been made by rich 
men. It has been developed by the gold that has 



been taken out of it. Foreign capital has done a 
very small proportion of the work. The man with a 
pick and pluck has been the most successful man in 
the camp. Mr. Stratton, the most successful opera- 
tor, was a. job carpenter in Colorado Springs when 
the camp opened. The man who located the " Phar- 
macist " was a drug clerk before he came to Cripple 
Creek. Four years ago thirty-five men came up to 
Cripple Creek in a party. To-day, thirty of them 
are worth $io,ooo, sixteen of them can clean up 
Sioo.ooo, and four of them are worth Si,ooo,ooo. 



EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH AND FREE READING ROOM - CRIPPLE CREEK 



37 




PORTLAND GROUP OF MINES ON BATTLE MOUNTAIN 



One, Mr. W. S. Stratton, is probably worth ^15,000,000. 
There was not money enough in the party, when they 
landed, to buy a burro. The opportunities which 
these men found were e.xtraordinary. Yet every day 
sees men finding and improving similar opportunities. 
But the gold has not all 
been located yet, even 
though every foot of 
land within four miles 
of Cripple Creek is under 
patent or in contest. 
There are hundreds of 
claims still unworked. 
There are scores of holes 
that may be had at a 
nominal figure, but every 
day sees the number of 
these purchasable claims 
shrinking. "Three hun- 
dred people are going 
into the town every day," says the Chicago Tinics- 
Hcrald. The man who goes there with a few hun- 
dred dollars finds three business opportunities before 
him — mining, real estate and storekeeping. The 
boom makes new stores a necessity. There will be 




CRIPPLE CREEK HIGH SCHOOL 



twice as many people in Cripple Creek next June as 
there are now. These people must be fed and housed 
and clothed and doctored and entertained. The busi- 
ness of making homes for the great influx of people 
puts a price on real estate, and values are going up 

daily. As for mining, 

R^^S' hs may buy a presuma- 

bly worthless hole and 
"strike it," as dozens of 
others have done. He 
may go outside of the 
district where no one 
believes there is any 
gold — just as it was be- 
lieved last year that 
there was no gold where 
one of the best mines is 
now located — and stake 
a claim. He may lease 
a partially developed 
hole in the neighborhood of a good mine. He may 
take what is known as a "bond and lease," which 
carries an option of purchase at an agreed price 
within a specified time. 

9^^ t2^ t^^ t^^ 



39 




THE GREGORY MINES ON RAVEN HILL 



A word as to the geographical h)cation of Crip- 
ple Creek. It lies in the backyard of Pike's Peak, 
within a few hours' ride of Colorado Springs and 
Manitou and the beautiful Ute Pass summer resorts, 
b' way of the Midland Terminal and Colorado Mid- 
land Railroads. The traveler from the Hlast, via the 
Santa Fe Route, may enter a sleeper at Chicago or 
Kansas City and go through to Colorado Springs or 
Denver, getting a day's rest, and then step on a 
sleeper and wake up in Cripple Creek. The passen- 
ger who is in a hurry may step from one sleeper to 



another on the same platform at Colorado Springs 
and complete the trip without delay. He may take 
his family to any of the delightful mountain resorts 
near Colorado Springs, spend his days in the mines 
and be with his family as often as he may care to 
snatch a few hours from business. 

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 
(Santa Fe Route), in connection with the Colorado 
Midland and Midland Terminal, forms the only 
standard gauge line into the Cripple Creek district. 

t^ *^ t.?* t.5* 




THE BOGART MINE 



40 



What Prominent Publications Say About Cripple Creek, 



«^ «,?* tH* t^ 



There are at present over 200 shipping^ mines in the Cripple Creek gold district, which now is about 
twelve to fifteen miles long, with a width of from eight to ten miles. In fact, gold is being discovered in 
paying quantities in every direction around Cripple Creek, and it is the opinion of experts that gold-mining 
in this district is still In its infancy. 

Besides the 200 shipping mines, there are over 3,000 prospects in which new discoveries of gold are being 
made daily. In fact, the entire country around Cripple Creek for miles seems to be mineralized, and there 
is no saying where gold may not be discovered. Not infrequently gold-bearing rock is discovered cropping 
out on the surface of the hills, varying in richness 
from two to hundreds of dollars per ton. Experi- 
ence, however, has demonstrated that as the mines 
are developed deeper the per cent, of gold 
increases, promising beyond controversy that gold 
in this remarkable district will be continued to be 
mined by " generations yet unborn." 

Cripple Creek, the chief city in the great gold 
district, is situated in an undulating gulch or basin, 
about half a mile wide and about the same length, 
at an altitude of 9,300 feet above the sea-level, and 
about thirty miles west of Colorado Springs by 
wagon road and sixty miles by rail, at the termi- 
nus of the Midland Terminal Railroad. 

The city has several churches, school house, 
a water s)-stem, electric light system, two good 
hotels — the Portland and Palace — which are always 




THE "JACK O"— ON RAVEN HILL 



41 



crowded to overflow, a number of second-class hotels 
and a great many rooming-houses and restaurants. 

While the two principal hotels charge from $3 
to $4 per day, a comfortable room for a mining town 
can be obtained for from $4 to $6 per week, payable 
in advance, at a private residence, which consists of 
three or four rooms, kitchen included, constructed in 
the most expeditious style, with weather-boards on 
the exterior and paper used on the inside as a sub- 
stitute for plaster. A room in one of these modern 
constructed houses, with a common stove and a 
large scuttle of coal, can be kept quite comfortable 
during sleeping hours. One of these residences 
generally can be erected in about two days at an 
expenditure of say $200, and as a rule is rented 
before completed for from $20 to $40 per month, 
according to location. 

Outside of rooms and hotel accommodation, living, generally speaking, is very reasonable; a fair 
can be had for from 25 to 50 cents at the restaurants. — The Illustrated World, J a imary, iSg6. 




SPECIMEN AND AMERICAN EAGLE MINES— BULL HILL 



meal 



e^ (5* (^* «^* 

Cripple Creek, during the year, has certainly made a remarkable record in everyway; a record of which 
not even its most enthusiastic admirers ever dreamed; a record that has had no equal in the West since 
the days of Leadville. The population has nearly doubled, the number of producing mines has increased 
nearly one-hundred-fold. 

The postoffice is now third in the state, the telephone is the busiest in the United States, and the rail- 
road companies have all the freight they can handle. — Engineering and Mining Journal, January 4, i8g6. 



4Si 



Such discoveries tend to confirm a statement 
made some time ago in your paper, namely, that the 
producing area of Cripple Creek, which is four miles 
from north to south, and three miles from east to 
west, is but one tithe prospected. — Engiiiccring mid 
Mining Journal, Dec. 14, fSgj. 



J» 



^ 




FREIGHTING ORE IN WINTER 



West Creek becomes a permanent mining camp 
for sylvanite. The ore, which made Cripple Creek, 
has at length been discovered in the seventy-foot 
shaft of the Hoosier claim in that camp. It is 
asserted that a central vein has been traced across 
the country, from Tyler through Pemberton, West 

Creek and Woodland Park, almost to the town of Cripple Creek. This would give a continuous ore field 
where mines may be located for more than forty miles through the mountains. 

A coal dealer living in this city was compelled, several years ago, to take a deed for 160 acres 
of land in payment of a debt of S150. This week he had an offer of $25,000 for forty acres of this 
land, which he accepted. After the sale he was told that the forty acres lie in the heart of the West Creek 
district. — Ne^c York Sun, Jan. 2j, i8g6. 



e^* e.?* (^ <^* 



Cripple Creek keeps up a hot pace of sales, leases, strikes and the formation of new companies. It 
cannot be too often repeated that stock speculations should not be undertaken, until something of the 



43 




ONE OF THE 200 NEW BUILDINGS IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. FEB 



cerns are hazardous at best. To select, then, 
investigation.— A^'^-a' York Sun, Jan. 20, iSg6. 



those 



condition of a company is known. When possible, 
the standing of the individuals composing the com- 
pany their practical knowledge of mining operations, 
the titles of the properties owned, the debts and the 
locations should all be inquired into before invest- 
ments are made. 

In too many instances the new stock companies 
are organized expressly for the purpose of selling 
stock and not with a view to developing the claims 
Already some of the new stock companies organized 
to operate in Cripple Creek have shown unmistaka- 
ble evidences of fraud. The claims in Cripple Creek 
to-day all have a value because of the deniand, but 
the intrinsic value of many of them will be found 
eventually to be nil. Stock companies cannot all 
expect to be successful even when honestly man- 
ased. and investments in stocks of prospect con- 
of the least hazards requires no little amount of 



J* ji ^ 0* 

It is impossible to believe that the example of South Africa will „otbe^ o^^^^ 
ment of the mines there has been 1'^<^°-Plf^d;v.th unlimited c^piUU^^ stock-jobbing 

which that capital could command. And despite the :^'ld I^^^^*^ /^^ut o? gold, derived from a little area 

anothei- ten years, perhaps less, reach $100,000,000 annually. 

44 



It would be absurd to attempt a similar prediction as to the yield of 
other portions of the earth ; but certain facts remain. A very pregnant 
one is to be found in Colorado. For years the Centennial .State talked 
and schemed and dreamed of little else than silver. .Silver-mining was 





MADE AT Si HF rJ^i T.-.ny L'^iCOMOTIVE works Ft.R MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. 

SAMPLE 'JF ENulNES UbED BETWELN DIVIDE AND CRIPPLE CREEK. 

CYLINDERS, 21X26 IN.; WEIGHT, 97 TONS: COST, 312,000. 

its chief industry. It cared little for gold. No one looked for it; it was 
almost impossible to obtain capital to develop a gold mine when it was 
found. This year Colorado turns from chiefly a silver state to chiefly 
a gold state. — Review of Re7>iezvs, Feb. iSg6. 

t?*' t^^ t2^ t^* 

The development in Colorado continues to go forward with unabated energ\'. The Cripple Creek field 
is increasing in area and population, and it is estimated that by the first of June that camp will contain 40,000 
people, four-fifths of whom will be practical or theoretical miners. — Editorial in Ka/isas City Star, Jan. ig, i8g6. 



MIDLAND TERMINAL DEPOTS AT GILLETTAND DIVIDE 



45 



m 



m 
i 















I 



NATIONAL HOTEL. CRIPPLE CREEK-TO UE OPENED JUNE I, 1896. 



©®©©©©QO0©0O©©O(D©®0e)©6XD(D©©o^ XViP sVinrt<><?t :;> rl n t fU h 

broad-gauge line from points in 




the East and South to Cripple 
Creek. Pullman Sleepers, Free 
Reclining Chair Cars, Harvey Eating Houses. Apply to nearest ticket 
agent for maps, folders and other detailed information regarding time of 
trains, cost of tickets, etc. 



t^^ 9^^ (^^ ^7^ t2^ 




^ 




ORE TEAMS UNLOADING AT VICTOR 



THE FAMOUS INDEPENDENCE MINE 



47 



CHICAaQ^.» 




PUEBLO 



CRIPPLE 

CKEKIv 

GOLD 

FIKLDS 



